SAMUEL PATTEN TATE

Samuel Patten Tate, a dentist of Oakland, was born near Moberly, Missouri, July 12, 1864, a son of Samuel Patten and Margaret (Baker) Tate.  S. P. Tate, Sr., born in Virginia, moved with his parents to Kentucky, where the father, whose career was chiefly farming, lived to an advanced age.  The mother, nee Patten, also reached old age.  S. P., Sr., lived with his parents until his majority, and was brought up to farming.  In young manhood he moved to Missouri, and was there married about 1850.  The mother, a native of Kentucky, had moved to Missouri with her parents, who were also natives of Virginia.  They lived to old age, especially Grandmother Margaret (Stanford) Baker, who reached the age of eighty-four. 

 S. P. Tate, Sr., located in Moberly, Missouri, being the second permanent settler there, now a city of perhaps 20,000 people.  He built the first, and for many years the best,  hotel in Moberly, which he also conducted.  In the period of the civil war, he was Captain of the home militia, and loyal to the Union.  He  came to California in 1872, mainly for the benefit of Mrs. Tate's health, and settled on a ranch near Linden, San Joaquin county, which he held some eight months, selling out before the close of 1872.  Settling the family in Stockton for the better education of the children, he engaged in sheep raising in Fresno county.  Later on he settled on a ranch in Merced county, with the family, and in 1879 moved to Oakland, and retired from active business.

     The children of S.P. and Margaret Tate are:  Alonzo Walter, now a fruit rancher of Santa Cruz county, who is married and has two boys -- A.W., Jr., and Elbert; John P., deceased in 1880, at the age of twenty five, of acute disease, an exceptionally early death in the Tate family; Margaret Catherine, now the wife of Richard M. Duncan, formerly a druggist of Moberly, Missouri, now a grocer in Oakland, has one boy, Harry K.; William T., now a clerk with Mr. Duncan, has one boy, Clarence.

     S.P.Tate, Jr., the subject of this sketch, educated in the public schools, entered on a private course of study at the age of sixteen with a view to prepare for the medical profession, but soon changed his views and entered a dentist's office.  At eighteen he changed to another dentist's office, where he remained three years, studying and practicing dentistry, in all nearly five years, when he received a certificate of competency from the State Board of Dentistry in 1885.  In 1886 he opened an office on his own account, and on September 1, 1887, settled at his present location at the northwest corner of Eighth and and Broadway, an old established stand in that line for twenty-one years, where he finds ample occupation for himself and two assistants.  He is a member of the order of Chosen Friends,  but is otherwise wholly occupied with his professional labors.

     Dr. S. P. Tate was married in this city, July 3, 1884, to Miss Dora Frances Noble, born in Marin county, California, a daughter of Jesse W. and Theresa C. Noble, both living in that county, in 1891.   Mr. Noble is division storekeeper for the Southern Pacific Company at the Oakland Mole. The children of Dr. and Mrs. Tate are:  Dora Frances, born September 10, 1886; Jesse Samuel, December 3, 1888.

 

Transcribed 11-5-04  Marilyn R. Pankey